In 2021 my younger brother Martin died in September, just days before my nephew’s long-delayed wedding. English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Danish English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Vietnamese Before, it was losing weight (at my lightest this year I was six stone lighter than at my heaviest in 2011). That then overlapped with becoming better at running. Xmas dinner out at a pub with Fam this year. All this week been half-expecting a call/text saying it’s cancelled but seemingly not. Been doing my twice-weekly Lateral Flow tests like a good boy for the last few months and so far so good. Most recent (negative again) was a couple of hours ago. Your first and second paragraphs are me, too, Arthur. The reason I started my current office job 11 years ago was I spent the previous 9 months WFH (following the fallout from the late 2008 crash) and missed having colleagues to talk to.

Use this space as you want – maybe a chance for the AW community to reflect and share in the quieter, shorter days at the end of December. Big change for me this year (stretching into 2022). I’ve sold my flat after living here for 20 years. I’ve finally decided I want a house, but will be lodging with my partner’s family until we find somewhere suitable. Due to move out in January – just waiting for the date to be confirmed. A sense of perspective and what is important gained (maybe, until life in all its complexities clouds that clear vision).Working from home has continued and I like it much more than I expected to. It’s now officially hybrid working, so as long as I stay in good health, I still don’t need to be retiring any time soon – it’s always been the commute that I’ve expected to be the tipping point and that’s now hugely reduced… and I’m still a few years away from state pension age. The second major event was that in April my mum died. As the nominated visitor, unlike the rest of my family, I’d managed to organise a visit to the (brilliant) care home to see her less than a week before. Fortunately we’d sorted out the house move a few weeks earlier so ‘all’ I had to do was to do learn about probate, do all the maths and fill in the 7 inheritance tax forms! At least it kept me busy and was content in the knowledge that none of my mum’s money went to a solicitor. Another thing that makes me feel a bit like an imposter is that I’m not very interested in finding out a lot of facts about it…people ask me stuff about diabetes and look confused when I say that I don’t know – where most people would google or wiki the hell out of a diagnosis, I’m fine with just knowing the basics. I don’t want to be all-consumed by my diagnosis, it is what it is and I prefer to ignore it as much as possible. 🙂 Lord Frost refused to have any form of structured relationship on foreign and defence policy post-Brexit with the EU – though the EU wanted one – and we are paying a very heavy price as a result,” he says. Might as well have been in suspended animation, as far as my social life was concerned, until June when I finaly got to a (socially-distanced) gig at The Jazz Cafe in Camden with a friend. A few other scattered gigs, muchly appreciated, but mostly life was mundane stuff like grocery shopping, car MOTs and services, bills to pay, Covid vaccines and twice-weekly Lateral Flow Tests etc.

I’m not a very sociable person at the best of times but all the masking-up, social-distancing and restrictions on things to get out and do/people to see are producing a sort of mild low-level depression in me. Quite a bit of my rather pitiful social life has been affected. I haven’t seen my son for 16 months in-person, and that’s starting to grate a bit. Still, hopefully see him next May when he graduates High School and goes to University, a steop I’m really not ready for. I hated WFH at the time, but I had two young kids in the house and awful technology (a modem, couldn’t use the landline at the same time, etc). Nowadays I have 100 Mb internet, video calls (I’m living in the future!), and I have no desire to return to spending an hour a day commuting to and from an office on a grotty industrial estate next to a motorway. Dislikes humankind? Generally, yep. I don’t see much to like in most of humankind (too much evil crap and shit stuff and we allow it to happen. And social media and YouTube are real windows into how utterly crap so many people are. And so are the governments we vote for). Been working with an Etsy Handwriting Artist to copy loved ones handwriting into frameable art and also a couple of special poems I wrote for people using my own handwriting.Its also been the when the kids have transitioned to independence….. the elder boy has finished his National service (compulsory here in Singapore) and will be off to Uni next year (not sure yet if UK or overseas) and the younger boy finished his A levels and will start his National Service in January. We are very much getting used to it just being the two of us again after all these years. I love the work, and I love that I learn stuff all the time, both via clients and via loads of CPD courses. It’s a privilege indeed. On the WFH topic, I much prefer in-person work, what with all the non-verbal material that only really becomes clear when we’re in 3D relationship.

Did an open University course, just a mini thing (introduction to Arts) but felt great to challenge myself and was something different to throw myself into. This all means that I continue my reasonably healthy lifestyle which involves a daily morning swim and mostly home cooked food (and with my wife being vegetarian when it’s just the two of us, it’s healthy too).Obviously, I mean no offence to anyone who truly has a debilitating illness. I can’t imagine what that must be like. Another strange year for everyone I’m guessing but personally fairly straightforward with only a few speed humps of life to negotiate. I don’t want to be all-consumed by my diagnosis, it is what it is and I prefer to ignore it as much as possible.”– Yes! That’s how I feel EXACTLY. In speaking, we also use so to intensify words, phrases and clauses. We stress so quite strongly. This usage is very common among some younger speakers. It has a meaning similar to just or just like: